1987 in literature
The year 1987 in literature involved some significant events and new books. Events *Tom Wolfe was paid $5 million for the film rights to his novel, The Bonfire of the Vanities, the most ever earned by an author, at the time. New Books Fiction *Chinua Achebe - Anthills of the Savannah *Peter Ackroyd - Chatterton (shortlisted for Booker Prize 1987) *Douglas Adams - Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency *Martin Amis - Einstein's Monsters *Gilles Archambault - L'Obsédante obèse et autres agressions *Paul Auster - The New York Trilogy & In the Country of Last Things *Iain Banks - Consider Phlebas (as Iain M. Banks) and Espedair Street *Clive Barker - Weaveworld *Greg Bear - The Forge of God *William Boyd - The New Confessions *Truddi Chase - When Rabbit Howls *Tom Clancy - Patriot Games *Hugh Cook - The Wordsmiths and the Warguild and The Women and the Warlords *Bernard Cornwell - Redcoat and Sharpe's Rifles *Robert Crais - The Monkey's Raincoat *L. Sprague de Camp and Catherine Crook de Camp - The Incorporated Knight *Jenny Diski - Rainforest *Jim Dodge - Not Fade Away *Roddy Doyle - The Commitments *Bret Easton Ellis - The Rules of Attraction *James Ellroy - Black Dahlia *John Gardner - No Deals, Mr. Bond *Kaye Gibbons - Ellen Foster *Ken Grimwood - Replay *Tom Holt - Expecting Someone Taller *Josephine Humphreys - Rich in Love *John Jakes - Heaven and Hell *Garrison Keillor - Leaving Home *Stephen King - Misery, The Tommyknockers, and The Eyes of the Dragon *Penelope Lively - Moon Tiger *Ian McEwan - The Child in Time *Betty Mahmoody - Not Without My Daughter *James A. Michener - Legacy (1987 novel) *Toni Morrison - Beloved *Haruki Murakami - Norwegian Wood *V.S. Naipaul - The Enigma of Arrival *Michael Ondaatje - In the Skin of A Lion *Robert B. Parker - Pale Kings and Princes *Rosamunde Pilcher - The Shell Seekers *Peter Pohl - Vi kallar honom Anna *Terry Pratchett - Equal Rites and Mort *Paul Quarrington - King Leary *Edward Rutherfurd - Sarum *José Saramago - Baltasar and Blimunda *Leonardo Sciascia - Porte aperte *Michael Shea - Polyphemus *Sidney Sheldon - Windmills of the Gods *Lucius Shepard - The Jaguar Hunter *Carol Shields - Swann: A Mystery *Michael Slade - Ghoul *Danielle Steel - Fine Things and Kaleidoscope *Ruth Thomas - The Runaways *Scott Turow - Presumed Innocent *Andrew Vachss - Strega *Barbara Vine - A Fatal Inversion *Kurt Vonnegut - Bluebeard *Gene Wolfe - The Urth of the New Sun *Tom Wolfe - The Bonfire of the Vanities *Roger Zelazny - Sign of Chaos *Gary Paulsen - Hatchet *Jesse Lee Kercheval - The Dogeater Non-fiction *Allan Bloom - The Closing of the American Mind *Bruce Chatwin - The Songlines *Bill Cosby - Time Flies *Andrea Dworkin - Intercourse *Paul Kennedy - The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers: Economic Change and Military Conflict From 1500 to 2000 *Nien Cheng - Life and Death in Shanghai *Salman Rushdie - The Jaguar Smile: A Nicaraguan Journey *Peter Wright - Spycatcher Poetry Births * Deaths *February 2 - Alistair MacLean, British thriller writer, heart attack *February 10 - William Rose, screenwriter *February 22 - Andy Warhol, artist, director, writer *March 4 - Maria Jolas, literary publisher *April 4 - C.L. Moore, science fiction author *April 11 - Erskine Caldwell, novelist *May 30 - Norman Nicholson, poet *September 25 - Emlyn Williams, dramatist *September 30 - Alfred Bester, science fiction writer *October 3 - Jean Anouilh, dramatist *October 8 - Roger Lancelyn Green, biographer and children's author *October 31 - Joseph Campbell, author and expert on mythology *November 29 - Gwendolyn MacEwen, Canadian poet *December 1 - James Baldwin, novelist *December 17 - Marguerite Yourcenar, novelist Awards * Nobel Prize for Literature: Joseph Brodsky Australia * The Australian/Vogel Literary Award: Jim Sakkas, Ilias * C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry: Lily Brett, The Auschwitz Poems * Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: Philip Hodgins, Blood and Bone * Mary Gilmore Prize: Jan Owen - Boy with Telescope Canada * See 1987 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards. France * Prix Goncourt: Tahar ben Jelloun, La Nuit sacrée * Prix Médicis French: Pierre Mertens, Les Éblouissements * Prix Médicis International: Antonio Tabucchi, Nocturne indien United Kingdom * Booker Prize: Penelope Lively, Moon Tiger * Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Susan Price, The Ghost Drum * Cholmondeley Award: Wendy Cope, Matthew Sweeney, George Szirtes * Eric Gregory Award: Peter McDonald, Maura Dooley, Stephen Knight, Steve Anthony, Jill Maughan, Paul Munden * James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: George Mackay Brown, The Golden Bird: Two Orkney Stories * James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Ruth Dudley Edwards, Victor Gollancz: A Biography * Whitbread Best Book Award: Christopher Nolan, Under the Eye of the Clock * Sunday Express Book of the Year: Brian Moore, The Colour of Blood United States * Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize: David Rivard, Torque * Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry: Howard Nemerov * American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Belles Lettres: Jacques Barzun * Frost Medal: Robert Creeley / Sterling Brown * Nebula Award: Pat Murphy, The Falling Woman * Newbery Medal for children's literature: Sid Fleischman The Whipping Boy * Pulitzer Prize for Drama: August Wilson, Fences * Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Peter Taylor, A Summons to Memphis * Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Rita Dove, Thomas and Beulah Elsewhere *Premio Nadal: Juan José Saer, La ocasión External links * Category:Years in literature Category:History of literature Category:Literature by year